Community art competition launched to celebrate Manchester’s amazing legacy of discovery

As any proud Manc will know, our city has long been a world leader in innovation.

From the creation of the first programmable computer and the world’s first passenger railway to splitting the atom and discovering graphene, Manchester is a city of firsts.

And now Manchester Science Park is looking to celebrate that with a new piece of community-designed artwork that will sit pride of place at the front of its newly-approved building, Base.

Upon its completion, Base will provide a purpose-built space on the Oxford Road corridor for addressing the industry-specific needs of computer engineering, energy technology, light manufacturing and materials science startups and SMEs.

All it is missing is a piece of stunning artwork celebrating Manchester’s amazing legacy of discovery. Which is where you come in.

As part of their search for the perfect piece, Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP) and the Whitworth, The University of Manchester, have launched a community art competition.

It is open to artists, schools, and community groups across the Manchester Hulme, Moss Side and Oxford Road Corridor area.

The winner’s work will be installed on the hoarding around the newly-approved Base building at Manchester Science Park, and competition pieces will also be displayed within the Whitworth art gallery during May half-term 2020.

Deadline for entries is midnight on 30th March 2020.

“Science and technology have played a pivotal role in driving forward progress and prosperity in Manchester,” said Thomas Renn, Managing Director at Manchester Science Partnerships.

“The sector still has an incredible impact on our regional economy and through programmes and events like Digital Her, which aims to engage and encourage young women to explore and engage in STEM, we can see that science and technology’s role as a great enabler and inspiration for people of all ages, hasn’t diminished over time.

“Encouraging people to take part in competitions like this are another way in which we hope to celebrate and showcase our city’s proud history of innovation and inspire the next generation of inventors and makers, and we can’t wait to see how science and technology has touched and inspired our entrants.”

Submission requirements:

Entries should be inspired by Manchester’s heritage as a world leader in innovation and need to respond to the question: What do you think of when you think about Manchester’s discoveries, technologies or material science?

The competition is open to all mediums, styles and ideas. MSP is looking for concepts and ideas to be submitted initially – the company will then work with the winning artist to ensure the piece can be resized and formatted appropriately.

The hoarding panel is rectangular with dimensions measuring: 3250mm(w) x 1700mm(h)
Physical drawings or designs should be no smaller than A1 size. A photo of the physical design or concept can be sent in for submission.

Digital designs should be workable for the dimension sizes listed above.

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